Children's Stamps 2025 'Together against loneliness'

Every year, the children's stamps tell a story that goes beyond just a beautiful image. In 2025, the stamps once again convey a poignant message: 'Together against loneliness'. In doing so, they draw attention to a growing problem among children. Loneliness in the classroom More and more children often feel alone. They are excluded or bullied, struggle to keep up at school, or have worries at home that leave them with nowhere to turn. There are at least two or three in every school class. And precisely because it is often not visible from the outside, children's stamps are an important tool to open up this topic and make help available for these children. To one! Life is often hard for these children. They feel unhappy, struggle with low self-confidence, and worry a lot – sometimes so much so that they can't sleep or become physically ill. Ten-year-old Luna sums it up aptly: “Loneliness is a feeling inside. That no one sees you or talks to you, as if you don't exist!” Every child therefore needs a safe place. A place where you meet others, make friends, and can simply be yourself. Access to sports and play is at least as important: it helps children participate and learn, together with peers. And above all, every child needs loving attention – someone who sees and hears you, a buddy to talk to and experience fun things with. Symbolism in typography Even in the design of the stamps, the message seems to resonate. In the words TEGEN and EENZAAMHEID, small 'irregularities' have been incorporated into the letters that evoke a deeper meaning. – The right leg of the 'N' is shorter than the left, symbolizing a sense of struggle and vulnerability. – In EENZAAMHEID, the first 'A' stands higher than the second, which slopes downwards – as if the balance is lacking. – Together with the slightly too wide 'M', this forms a kind of dent: an image for the emotional damage a child can sustain from bullying or exclusion. As the saying goes: There is more to read between the lines. Behind the seemingly simple letters and images lies a deeper, often poignant message. Various descriptions It is striking that there is still variation in the designation of the theme in publications. Where SKN writes about 'Together against loneliness', Collectief 124 calls the new series 'Together against loneliness'. Whatever the precise title, the message remains clear: together we stand strong against loneliness. An earlier sketch: bullying Last year, in a blog post, I already drew attention to a painful yet topical subject for children's stamps: bullying. For this, I created a sketch design of two matching stamps, in which the word 'bullying' was depicted in both increasing and decreasing degrees. The country name was positioned vertically, symbolizing the accumulation of bullying behavior. This design, too, demonstrated how powerful a stamp can be in making a societal theme visible.